Utility meters are used by utility companies to measure the amount of a resource consumed by users. The resource may be gas, electricity, water, etc. Such meters may be located at the user's premises, which may be commercial or residential. These meters include a rotation device that indicates the amount of a resource consumed. For some utility meters, this rotation device may be referred to as a dial, an index, and/or a register. The meters may be configured so that the volume of the resource passing through a metering valve is proportional to the number of rotations of the rotation device, and the dial, index, and/or register may indicate the amount of consumption of the resource according to the number the rotations of the rotating device.
Additionally, the number of rotations of the rotating device may be sensed. Under current rotation sensing techniques, tampering of the meter may be difficult to detect. More specifically, if someone tampers with the meter by removing a dial cover or by placing a magnet near the meter, the tampering is difficult to detect because often utility meters have zero-use as a normal state. Similarly, with these techniques, it may be difficult to detect a malfunction. As a nonlimiting example, in the case of meters employing a dial hand to indicate consumption, if the dial hand falls off the utility meter, the dial will revert to zero. Because meters may have zero-use as a normal state, it can be difficult to remotely detect that a dial hand has fallen off the meter, and lost revenue can result.